“Bella Bresse wipes away a tear as she speaks about her murdered daughter, Evangeline Billy, at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls taking place in Whitehorse, YT., Wednesday, May 31, 2017.” Image retrieved from: http://www.macleans.ca/lost-and-broken/.
Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Over the past two days, we’ve listed the names of murdered and missing Indigenous women and described the efforts of Christi Belcourt to honour these women through art. Too often these countless women are reduced to a statistic, but it is worth knowing the statistics to understand what a seemingly insurmountable, unending, and disgusting problem continuously faces the female Indigenous population.
In 2002, the Native Women’s Association of Canada released a report entitled, “Violations of Indigenous Human Rights”, which discussed the violent world that Indigenous women are confronted with each day.[1] It describes how Indigenous women face a more violent world than non-Indigenous women with higher rates of intimate or sexual violence, physical abuse, and abuse as children.[2] The report details cases in which Indigenous women were missing with little to no police regard for a search, or in one case, the police dropping the search after failing to find an Indigenous suspect -- without extending the search to non-Indigenous individuals.[3]
12 years later, in 2014, an RCMP report found that between 1980 and 2012, 1,017 Aboriginal women and girls were killed, with another 164 missing. 225 of these cases remain unsolved.[4] These injustices have not been rectified; certainly not 14 years later by the time of the 2015 publication of the TRC Report, which calls on the government to: “appoint a public inquiry into the causes of, and remedies for, the disproportionate victimization of Aboriginal women and girls. The inquiry’s mandate would include: investigation into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls, and links to the intergenerational legacy of residential schools.” [5] The issue has not been rectified in 2017, especially with the governmental inquiry unraveling almost before it began.
This history of MMIW is rich, dark, and complex, stretching across Canada. To profile how one community has reeled from the violence towards their women, we will discuss the Highway of Tears. The Highway of Tears is a section of highway in British Columbia, stretching from Prince George to Prince Rupert, where at least 18 Indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered since 1970, with estimates of up to 40 [6]. The Highway has been studied and discussed in a 2006 Indigenous-led symposium leading to 33 recommendations, and a 2012 British Columbia inquiry in response to the Robert Pickton cases in Vancouver, in which Pickton was responsible for multiples murders of Indigenous women who were found on his farm.[7] A recommendation from both discussions was affordable public transit service, as many, but not all, of the incidents along the Highway are connected to hitchhiking.[8] Hitchhiking is closely connected to the way of life in Northern BC, with limited transportation options from town to town, or Reserve community to community, for example. [9] The bus service has been implemented slowly and in stages, with new routes still being added in 2017 [10].
The allegations (and realities) of injustice against Indigenous women have gone unaddressed for too many years. The inquiry is one step, among many steps that must be taken, to finally stop the human rights abuse of Indigenous women, and provide a secure, safe environment, free from both systemic and targeted violence.
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women hearings are underway across Canada, beginning with Whitehorse in June 2017. Hearings recently took place in Edmonton from November 7th to 9th, where survivors and family members shared their stories through public and private hearings. These hearings, which are part of a “Truth Gathering Process”, will continue into Spring 2018 [11]. We hope these hearings lead to healing for families and communities, and justice through changes stemming from the inquiry.
Mâmawîkahkisohmonânaw
(we all pray for you)
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] Native Women’s Association of Canada, “Violations of Indigenous Human Rights” (December 2002), online: <www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2002-NWAC-Violations-of-Indigenous-Human-Rights-Submission.pdf>.
[2] Ibid at 4.
[3] Ibid at 5.
[4] Royal Canadian Mounted Police, “Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview” (2014), online: <www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/missing-and-murdered-aboriginal-women-national-operational-overview>.
[5] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action (Winnipeg: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada), 2015 at 4. .
[6] Chantelle Bellrichard, “Life and Death Along Canada’s Highway of Tears”, Vice News (16 October 2015), online: <news.vice.com/article/life-and-death-along-canadas-highway-of-tears>.
[7] “Pickton inquiry slams 'blatant failures' by police”, CBC News, (17 December 2012), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pickton-inquiry-slams-blatant-failures-by-police-1.1191108>.
[8] The Canadian Press, “B.C. Highway of Tears study polls hitchhikers' habits”, CBC News (25 May 2014), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-highway-of-tears-study-polls-hitchhikers-habits-1.2653808>.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Briar Stewart, “'Safe, reliable and affordable': New bus service aims to make notorious Highway of Tears less dangerous”, CBC News (21 September 2017), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bus-service-bc-highway-of-tears-1.4294249.>
[11] National Inquiry Communications, “National Inquiry travels across Canada to meet with families and survivors to prepare for Fall Community Hearings” (2017) National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, online: <www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/files/press-release-the-national-inquiry-fall-hearings-and-community-visits.pdf>.
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